Many dough products are prepared commercially to be sold as packaged, refrigerator-stable products. These packaged dough products can be stored at refrigerator conditions and cooked (e.g., baked) by removing the packaged dough from refrigerated storage and cooking the dough with little or no additional preparation. Refrigerator stable dough products can be very desirable to consumers because of their convenience.
A variety of dough products are sold commercially as being refrigerator stable. Examples include doughs sometimes referred to in the baking arts as “undeveloped doughs” such as cookies, cakes, biscuits, scones, and batters; other examples are “developed” doughs such as breads and bread-like products including French bread, white or whole wheat bread, bread sticks, bread rolls, pizza dough, cinnamon rolls, raised donuts, and other products having developed dough properties.
Developed doughs are prepared to leaven and increase the size and decrease the density of the cooked (e.g., baked) dough product. This can be done by the action of yeast or by the action of chemical ingredients (“chemical leavening agents”) that react to produce a leavening gas. Leavening can take place either before or during baking. Many refrigerator stable developed dough products include chemical leavening agents, and are allowed to proof before they are packaged, during storage, or during baking.
An important component of a refrigerated dough product can be its packaging configuration and packaging materials. Packaging of a refrigerator stable dough product can contribute to retaining freshness over an extended period of refrigerated storage. Many types of packaging materials and package forms are used commercially, including pressurized cans and non-pressurized pouches or chubs.
Raw packaged dough products continue to exhibit limited refrigerated shelf lives. A packaged dough, during extended refrigerated storage, may, for example, experience deteriorated freshness in the form of discoloration or loss of leavening properties upon baking. It is a continuing goal in the packaged food arts to improve the shelf life of products such as refrigerated dough products.